everyone voting today knows that chuck hagel is going to be confirmed. in fact, there are a number of people who have made commitments that they will, in fact, vote for cloture when we return. so this is some kind of grandstanding that goes on. i'm confident he'll get the votes when we return, and he will take his place as secretary of state. but he is going to miss the nato conference next week, and it sends a signal to the rest of the world that maybe he doesn't have the full support of the american government, which is not a good place for our secretary of defense to be in. >> well, the jackals are in the streets tonight. thank you so much, senator claire mccaskill. and peter beinart, thank you for joining us as well. >>> coming up, the frantic rantings of the nra. citizen lapierre has gotten crazier. he says we need to buy guns, to arm up to protect ourselves from the marauding hispanic gangs. >>> remember the line, this one, from "brokeback mountain," i wish i knew how to quit you. well, republicans just can't quit their cartoon version of president